alt Hacker NewsThere are reasons not to like gypsum drywall:
> Some buildings standing today still have wattle-and-daub panels from 700 years ago.
Will any drywalled building survive even a tenth of this time?
> The plaster mixture used then was a homegrown concoction, with recipes matching the climate needs and vernacular material availability.
The wonder of wattle-and-daub (clay) and plaster-and-lath (lime) is that the materials are breathable, move with the structure, and can even self-repair small cracks. I don't know of any old house that suffers from black mold...
My last big gripe with gypsum drywall is disposal. Demolish a property with clay or lime walls, and they'll naturally degrade into the environment. Drywall needs proper disposal: "Do not burn: Drywall releases toxic fumes. Do not bury: It can create dangerous hydrogen sulfide gas in landfill."
Does anyone want to live with that?
Replies
I was just reading how it's common to pulverize gypsum drywall to mix into dense clay soils to loosen it up.
>Do not bury: It can create dangerous hydrogen sulfide gas in landfill."
Wonder if in the future there will be incentives for proper disposal since you can extract hydrogen from it, other than that I agree with you.
> I don't know of any old house that suffers from black mold...
For much the same reason they don't suffer from low heating bills, either.